//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: "Realization" // Story: To Change a Heart // by The Descendant //------------------------------// Chapter 3: “Realization” The draconequus trembled and shook As the magic which sat inside his ancient form Departed from his body He began to fade away And as ponies gathered around him Many shed great rolling tears For with him died an ancient age None shed greater tears than the Nightbringer And she stroked his head As the fabric of his being Began to drift away The tears that ran down her face Fell into his coat And it moved him “My Moonbeam,” he spoke “Do not cry for me Did I not promise you That there was nothing you could ask of me That I would not give? If this was the only gift I could give Then I give it freely.” “Long have I waited in my quiet tomb To which I fled to avoid the wrath of Discord And hidden there from my uncle I could only listen as you grew And you built and then reclaimed This land for your children And I have marveled at it.” “Oh, my Luna,” spoke the incarnation “You were the only thing that bound me to this world And if I knew of any way To remain in it You know that I would If only in the hope that someday You might love me as I love you.” “Godfather!” cried the Nightbringer Tears streaming down her face. “Uncle! You know I love you! I have loved you since you first lifted me from my cradle Since you whisked my sister and I to safety But the love of which you speak Is not in my heart.” “This I know,” he replied “But the thought of it sustained me across centuries And you must think less of me for it And I blame you not I tell you, my Luna, that if there were any way For me to stay on this side of death I would take it.” “In the shadow of that hope I could last for millennia Just always longing to be there For you in your worry To free you from fear To keep you safe, happy, and warm And whatever you desired would be yours.” The Nightbringer’s face twisted in despair For she knew that Chance’s love for her Was not that of a relative for a child But that of a man for a woman And she could not return that love For in her heart he was forever The kind creature whom she had loved as a child “Godfather, uncle!” she told him “You know how my heart holds you And I swear no oath But only tell you that upon my chest Rests an onyx made Of the same substance of the mountain In which my kind sleep.” “It is your choice alone to make My Lord, whom I love with the affections Of the child I once was But in that jewel You could sleep for millennia And awake in time If the cost and price we are willing to pay.” “And what is that price, my Moonbeam?” He asked her even as he continued to decrease “Would it be my cost or my price? Quickly now, for my time draws near.” She leaned over him And told him what it would require And the two looked to one another With that Chance lifted his paw And placed it upon the gorget With that there was a great rush of wind And the mixing of light And magic dark and deep And his form became as light That was drawn within the jewel The gorget sealed itself in a flash of deep magic So did the princess Luna waver And fall to her knees For now sealed away was one of the few who loved her And thus ended the worldly life of Chance Last of the draconequui who were incarnate in the world Less the demon sealed in stone in ancient Canterlot far away -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Babysitting had never been one of Twilight’s key talents. Just ask Spike. She knew that she lacked patience, and that she had the tendency to lose a fair bit of… well, composure, when placed under certain conditions. Also, she found that foals didn’t seem to enjoy her carefully researched, richly detailed, and elaborately presented lectures on the minutiae of Equestrian history, geology, or magical composition for some odd reason… Kids, right? So, as Luna and Applejack had slid trough the floor her mind had instantly informed her that she was now in charge of the assembly of small creatures that were left behind. Spike she could rely on, but having all three Crusaders in the same room at the same time had already proven what a debacle it could be. As time passed though it quickly became obvious that, for the time being, any attempts to find their marks was far from the minds of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Instead they hovered near their friend, the newly minted dragon, and kept her close. “Any better, Apple Bloom?” asked Scootaloo as she paced her friend. “Yeah, I guess so. Ah’m pretty dang close tah’ having the walking down, but I still feel a bit wobbly and such,” she said. At once she spun unexpectedly, and her tail lashed out behind her, knocking Scootaloo to the floor. “Ah’m sorry!” she said, attempting to lower herself so that she could help the pegasus to her hooves. As she did her tail flicked out behind her once again. As it did she sent Sweetie Belle spinning about until the unicorn slid across the floor, and Apple Bloom herself lost her balance and flipped forward across Scootaloo as that filly tried to stand. Moans of pain and dejection arose from the pile of young girls. As the fillies tried to right themselves, Twilight felt movement at her side. She looked down to see Spike with his face firmly planted in his own palm, and his other arm crossed in front of him. It was a firm sign of exasperation, and he shook his head slightly as he did so. When his face lifted she saw upon him a more familiar expression, one that she knew marked the greater part of his personality. Concern hung there, and worry too... both combining as empathy that sent Spike from her side and to the distant group of girls. As he helped them to their feet and hooves he held onto Apple Bloom, steadying her as the other two fillies trotted to where Twilight lay. The two fillies settled into the crux of Twilight’s flank, huddling near her. Twilight was at first surprised at this, but that soon passed. She was the adult in the room, and a familiar face to them, and it was to her that they came for comfort as concerns larger than what children should have to face sat around them. “Hey, ummm, Apple Bloom?” Spike asked, placing his outstretched arms under hers. “Have you ever watched the way I walk?” “Ya’ mean yer’ little waddle?” she said with a giggle, sending a bright blush across the face of the boy and an accompanying chorus of giggles arising from the fillies that sat near Twilight. “Ummm, well… yeah,” he said as he rubbed the back of his head, “that.” “Look,” he continued, looking back to the girl and drawing himself up to his full height, “what’s happening is that you’re not thinking about your tail, okay? You’ve got to use it to, like, balance yourself, ya’ know? Here, lemmee…” To their surprise he slid around behind her, literally lifting her tail even as he kept his arm under hers. Her small yelp of surprise hadn’t even fully cleared her lips before he spoke the word “step”, and she replied with a timid lift of her clawed feet. “Okay, good… right, okay, now you feel this back and forth?” he said as they began to walk together, she leaning less and less upon his arm as they went. Soon he released his hold on her tail, and together they went up and down the room, Apple Bloom attempting to copy his trademark strut. As they went she began to keep a cadence with him, gaining a greater understanding of this strange body into which she had been placed. Twilight heard another little giggle, and she looked down to see a grinning Sweetie Belle lean closer to Scootaloo. “They look like they’re dancing!” the unicorn whispered into Scootaloo’s ear, causing the pegasus to laugh aloud. Twilight rolled her eyes gently, amused with the fillies and their little whispers. She looked to where Spike led Apple Bloom around and around the cushions. Yes, it did seem like they were dancing, the way the two little ones waddled in time. She put her head in her hoof and stared at them. Soon Apple Bloom had left his guidance, and Spike turned to catch her should she fall. It didn’t seem necessary, though. Soon she was bouncing along, pursuing him in something more like a chase. The fillies cheered for Apple Bloom, and Twilight for Spike, and together all laughed as the two went around and around the pillows and cushions. Spike both tried to keep ahead of her and at the same time reached for her, ready to catch her if she fell. “Wha… whoa!” called Spike, and with that he tripped across his own tail, sending him tipping backwards to the floor. “Heh, well now, ain’t that a sight!” called Apple Bloom as she caught up to him. “Ya’ just gotta practice, practice, practice yer’ walkin’, Spike!” “Now, ya’ need tah move yer’ tail just right, like me,” she said, placing one hand on her scaly hip and waving her finger in the air. However, even this little gesture was still enough to unbalance her. She too fell, landing upon the boy where he lay upon the rich carpet. As the dragons blushed and laughed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood up from Twilight’s side and moved towards them, each congratulating Apple Bloom on doing so well with laughter of their own. The girl lifted herself and began to move towards her friends even as all their laughter filled the room. All at once, it ended. Apple Bloom did not stand and walk to them. Instead, for some reason, she chose to remain on all fours, skittering towards them with unmatched reptilian motions. As she looked up to them she blinked her inner eyes, and her tongue came loose, the forks splaying out before them. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screamed, rearing in fright as the lizard scampered towards them. For a long moment nothing happened, and the children just stared at one another. Sweetie and Scootaloo settled back onto their hooves, each knowing what they had done. Twilight’s hoof was already over her mouth as she saw the expressions that fell from all four of the young creatures. “Apple Bloom,” whispered Scootaloo, “I’m… we’re sorry, we’re so sorry…” There was a little cough, one that was repeated and then became an unhappy sound. It dropped down into a whine that rose again as a bawl. With that Apple Bloom was crying once more, all of the progress of that afternoon and early evening washing away as fears and doubts filled her. “Yer’ afraid of me!” she called, looking to each and then turning away. “If… if mah’ best friends are afraid o’ me, what chance do ah’ have back in Ponyville!?” “Apple Bloom,” Sweetie squeaked, trying to rub against the dragon whelp, “it’ll be okay. If you have to stay a dragon, everything will be okay.” “No it won’t!” called Apple Bloom again, spinning herself, seeming like she wished to sit but only raising herself up again. Her whine was replaced with huffs of emotion as she began to run her hands across her face. “Ah’m not gonna be any help on the farm!” she huffed, “Applejack an’ Big Mac’ll have tah carry me around forever, like Twilight does with you!” Spike pointed at himself, surprised that one of her invectives had fallen over him. “Ah’ll never be any good at any farm stuff, and now Ah’ll never find mah mark!” she said, turning around in her paces, deeper and deeper worry growing on her face as she huffed and puffed in many breaths, each catching in her words. “We’ll… we’ll still be your friends,” Scootaloo said. “That won’t change, ya’ know.” “Yeah, you… y-you say t-that!” Apple Bloom said, wringing her clawed hands together, her breathing getting quicker and quicker. “B-But you won’t want me ‘round forever! I can’t be a Crusader if I ain’t got nothin’ to crusade ‘fer!” She spun around again, the two fillies trying to calm her as she paced, her breathing getting faster and faster, growing into a wheeze each time she exhaled. Twilight tried to open her mouth, refute each argument with logic. The child though was beyond logic, and Apple Bloom was only falling farther and farther into her self-inflicted fears. “Ah’ll grow too big! I’ll have tah’ stop sleepin’ in a bed! I’ll… live so long that you’ll all grow up, an I’ll still be a baby, and you’ll all get old and die! I’ll be so big that everypony’ll be scared of me! I-I’ll have to leave Ponyville! Leave all mah…” Apple Bloom chocked, gasped, and wheezed. “… leave mah family!” Twilight watched Spike leap to his feet and join the fillies as they tried to calm her. She realized, in some small way, that Apple Bloom’s fears were hitting far too close to home for her little baby dragon. What happened next reaffirmed it. “I’ll… what, what if I get all greedy and such? What if I get like Spike when he tried to take Scootaloo’s scooter?” she whined, still gasping at tiny breaths of worry between each word. “What if ah’ turn into a monster too!?” Monster. Twilight watched in horror as Spike spun away from the group, stumbled, and went down on his knees. Monster. Twilight watched as his hands went to the side of his head, and her heart leapt to him. It was a fight he’d been fighting ever since that day, and a battle that he might have to live with for the rest of his life, through dozens of centuries, perhaps. “Oh, Spike,” she whispered under her breath, watching as his arms folded across his stomach. Twilight’s worries for the little boy were put aside as she began to realize that something was happening with the other dragon. Apple Bloom’s worries were only growing, and soon the filly was gulping at tiny breaths, shaking where she stood or darted. The little girl stood there, her body trembling and her eyes starting to roll as she pulled at little breaths. “Please, stop it! Apple Bloom, please, calm down!” Scootaloo cried, trying to force the dragon to the ground. “Apple Bloom! Stop it! Stop, Apple Bloom, you’re gonna make yourself sick!” Sweetie Belle cried as she followed her wavering friend. “Twilight, help!” Scootaloo cried. “She’s gonna hype… hypra, hypervem… She’s gonna pass out!” Twilight lifted herself, and her mind dashed about as she tried to think of what type of magic or basic first aid could help the child. Before she had even taken as single step, someone else in the room had moved quickly to help the little girl. Spike stood and wheeled about, and Twilight and the other fillies saw a flash of green go across his eyes. Inside Spike a memory had taken hold, something he had seen earlier that very day. In his mind’s eye he saw Mrs. Cake going on and on and on about her vacations. Inside his head Spike drew a connection between what that mare had done and what Apple Bloom was doing to herself. With that, he dove amid the girls, the remembrance of what had happened in the bakery giving him some hope that he could help her… Silence once more filled the room. Twilight looked on as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stepped back. The little fillies calmed, and an expression of wonder and awe came over them as they parted. As they moved aside Twilight could see very clearly what Spike had done to draw Apple Bloom out of her anxiety. Apple Bloom felt clawed hands draw across her shoulders, and she felt herself being turned even as her breaths were at the verge of making her lose consciousness. She stared into emerald eyes that seemed alive with light, and then the breath left her body. She gave one, two little hops, and then settled into the new feeling that drifted through her… the touch of lips to hers. Spike held her wrists at first, forcing her to stop bounding about in fear and panic. But, slowly, he dropped them as she stopped trembling and her body met the soft feel of his lips pressed to hers. He ran his hands up and down her arms as he felt her calm… as her emotions were transmitted to him through their kiss. After a moment he raised his head. He found himself looking down into her, remembering that he was, in fact, just that much taller than her in her new body. “Ummm,” he said, not lifting from her eyes. They were filled with a perfect mix of confusion, fear, and wonder as they studied his. “Look, hey, Apple Bloom,” he said, still slowly drawing his hands up and down her arms, trying to draw whatever fear remained out of her with his touch. “I-I know about all that stuff… what you just said. It… well, it’s what I think about every day, ya’ know?” She gave a little hop, still looking at him, not moving away. To his surprise she opened up her arms, lifting them to his reassuring touch. “I-I just want you to know,” he said, not knowing if he should look away or keep looking or whatever in the world he should do, just knowing that it was working, that she was calming, “that, yeah, it’s okay… you aren’t the only one who’s asking those questions, ya’ know? I… well, I don’t have the answers to a lot of stuff about growing up as a dragon. But, you’re not alone, ya’ got that? If you like, I’ll help you through it, no matter how long it takes. Do you want me to help?” To Spike’s surprise she turned out the palms of her clawed hands. Even as his fingers began to trace the inside of her arms, brushing past the inside curve of her elbows and down to her wrists and back, she held his gaze. His head moved slightly, but her eyes followed. Spike felt her searching for the last bit of the promise, the scared little girl latching onto something she saw in him, in the only other person on the planet that could possibly understand her present fears. “You’re gonna be okay,” he repeated as she blinked, the brilliant orange of her eyes searching through his, the little boy now struggling to make her understand his purpose as different feelings washed through him. “I promise. Your sister and the princess, they have to be back soon, and they’ll bring back your body. And…” Twilight saw the girl startle him with a small hop. To Twilight she looked like a martyr, what with the way she held her arms held out from her side, her eyes turned up to him. “… and even if they don’t, I’ll stay with you,” he continued. “I’ll help you learn to be a dragon, or… well, as much as I know about it. Okay? You’re safe, you’re gonna be okay. I promise.” The little girl gave another tiny hop, her face lifting towards his. As he continued to draw his hands across the underside of her arms he tried to think of the right things to do and say. She gave another little hop, and then lifted her nose to his. Oh… “Hey,” he laughed, “Apple Bloom, ya’ can start breathing again…” With that, he lowered his head. “You’re gonna be okay, everything’s gonna be okay…” As his hands reached her palms she squeezed him, and at once the new and wonderful sensation of their fingers interlacing drifted through both of the little dragons. With that Spike lifted his arms wide, drawing her closer, and with that they shared another small kiss. Twilight looked on, her face beaming with a large smile. There were millions of reasons, she knew, to kiss. Not all were honorable, and some petty. Some are banal or a matter of course. But, she knew, some were truly marvelous, and worthy of being recounted and shared. It was a child’s kiss that passed between her baby dragon and the lost little girl who inhabited a dragon’s body. It was dry, and it was awkward in both appearance and execution, and it certainly lacked anything resembling passion or other such adult entanglements. But, it was genuine. There were millions of reasons, Twilight knew, to share a kiss. That Spike had used his kiss to draw out the pain of another, to give Apple Bloom the comfort and solace that she desperately needed… well, that just fit with everything that she knew of her baby dragon, of her number one assistant… … of her great little guy. There was a single sharp breath, and as Apple Bloom stood away from Spike her face was deep in a blush… and a bashful smile. Spike was equally as red, and he ran his clawed hand through his frills as he smiled back at her. To Twilight, there only seemed to be one appropriate thing to do at that moment. She giggled to herself, and then joined Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in a rousing chorus of “Spike and Apple Bloom, sitting in a tree…” It was not mocking, but instead simply an attempt to see just how red they could make the pair become. When the two reached a brilliant hue she giggled again and then trotted over to them, giving them an adult’s promise and reassurance that everything would be fine in the end. Deep beneath them, and far away on a side of existence not so easily defined, a world was ending. “My Moonbeam,” spoke Chance, lifting his paw so that Luna could lower her head into it, “you’re just as regal and beautiful as those long centuries ago when you gave me this house.” She batted her eyes at him, resting her head upon the paws that had lifted her into trees to see into the far distance, or had made empires out of sand castles with her when she was just a foal. This was her godfather, her uncle in name if not in flesh, and she sighed happily at the memories of a younger world and a newly built land. “We… I,” she said, recognizing the needlessness of her usual speech in front of one of the few beings left in the world (more or less) that had stared down into her cradle. “I have not been so fair through all of those ages…” “I know of your troubles, my Luna,” the draconequus said, lifting her head from her his paw with one finger, “and I felt so helpless, not being able to help you through them…” The look in his eyes changed slightly. “… that I was not there with you, when I could have comforted you.” Luna looked up to him, and then looked away. The look in his eyes had imparted his meaning. That was not her godfather. That was not her uncle. A high whine arose from nearby, and both looked at one another in surprise and then down to where a set of hooves made nervous motions and a worried sound arose that had a distinctive accent to it. Chance looked down to see Applejack anxiously dancing her hooves and looking into his lap. There resided the abandoned body of Apple Bloom, shorn of everything that made it her sister apart from the appearance. “Forgive me, Miss Applejack,” he said, shifting his body so that he could lift the form from himself. Applejack followed closely as he gathered more pillows and laid the body upon them, near to the fire, but not too near. “When your sister emerged here, or rather her body, I was confused. At first I felt… betrayed, and I wondered if Luna had chosen this form for me out of spite. A mortal earth pony instead of an alicorn, and a young filly instead of a grown stallion… you can understand my confusion…” Applejack arched an eyebrow. No, she genuinely had no idea. “When I saw that the other part,” he continued, “the initiator of the spell, was not her either, but a dragon whelp… I understood. I understood that something had gone wrong, and that my millennia of waiting had come to nothing…” A deep sadness passed over him, and he looked first to the princess. She met his eyes in an expression that Applejack couldn’t name. The draconequus turned back to Applejack, drawing the cushions closer to the little body. “When she, or… it, arrived, it seemed so cold… so lonely,” Chance said, leaning down to examine the filly’s form. “Forgive me, but I put it on my lap, just so that it would not be so cold.” “Naw,” said Applejack, shaking her head, “don’t even think on it too much, that was right kind of ya’. Right kind.” He smiled over her gently, and Applejack could see that real emotions sat there, not deviousness. How very much unlike the other draconequus she had met. “Well, it sure was nice meetin’ ya’!” said Applejack, lifting her hoof to the incarnation of probability and possibility. “Mighty obliged that you’d take care of this here for us, but we’ve gotta get back to mah sister and swap her out… so, well, Princess?” The two ancient, seemingly immortal, and apparently divine beings stared back across the earth pony, making her drop her head in pointless embarrassment. As it hung there, two important facts went through Applejack’s mind… two things that Luna had said earlier. Something had been said about killing someone who loved her… and about needing the blood of a mare. Applejack’s head came up, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open as she realized what was about to come. As they caught her glance, the two ancient spirits of probability and deep magic looked away from her bewildered eyes, copying the look of unease that had sat across Applejack’s face a moment earlier. The three sat there, in that phantom chateau, before the non-existent fire. The earth pony’s mouth moved up an down, the alicorn ran the back of her hoof across her other leg, and the draconequus scratched his forehead with the thumb of his right paw… each one waiting for the other to be the one to broach the topic of the murder that all were now politely anticipating. “You, ummm,” began Chance, before pausing again. There was polite coughing, more fumbling… more jaws moving up and down as deep realizations drifted over the owner of said mandible. “You,” he began again, turning to face the princess, “wish to recover her body, my Luna? You wish to return the filly to the body into which she was born?” “There is no place for her among all whom she knows and loves if she remains a dragon,” spoke Luna, walking slowly back to her godfather’s side, “and she could never be a dragon. Her magic is still in her, and it will never be at peace with the magic of the dragon’s body.” Luna sighed, glanced away, and then continued. “They are my children, my lord, and you know that they are dear to us, my sister and I. Each of them is dear to us. Godfather, I…” Chance chuckled. “Godfather… heh. You know, my Luna, that there are days that I both cursed your father for giving me that title, and days which I praised him until my throat hurt.” He lifted his paw to her again, and once more she settled her head into his hand. “I have sinned against you, my little Moonbeam. I should have kept those words that pained you to myself, and should only have been happy that you looked upon me as your godfather, and even more dearly as your uncle. You cannot know how happy it made me that your heart only grew fonder of me, and I should have been satiated with that. Can you forgive me for wanting more? Can you forgive me for seeing you as the beautiful, radiant, wondrous creature you became and, indeed, are now, instead of the little, gangly, awkward foal whom I was entrusted to protect?” A tear ran down Luna’s face, and his paw came up to her, wiping it away. “You are forgiven, dear uncle, dearest godfather. Your strength preserved me, preserved my sister and I, when the world seemed lost and my kind entered the heart of the mountain, one by one. It was you who provided all of the random chances that led us to rediscover the Elements of Harmony, and in the end you chose to defy your own uncle. You hid yourself and your power to shield us from Discord’s might. It is I who sinned against you, that night beside the river. I gave you the false hope that my love for you could be something other than what it always was… and still is. I let you believe that you could rest here in that hope, just so that I could tell myself that there still was one more on this side of death that loved me. Do I have your forgiveness?” He smiled down over her, and she lifted her head from his paw. “My Luna,” he said with a chuckle, “be it giving my forgiveness, or giving you my life, you know that there is nothing I would not do for you.” Applejack’s mouth finally stopped moving up and down in disbelief. “Princess, Majesty,” she called, “there… is, ain’t there no other way?” “If the body of thine maiden sister is to leave here,” Luna began, unintentionally sliding back into her older dialect, “then the jewel must not leave here unmarred. If the jewel is marred…” She looked up to Chance. There upon his face stood a soft expression, one that noted a sense of… loss, longing, and perhaps just a touch of release. “… there is no other way,” Luna whispered, falling forward. Her godfather caught her up, and held her close. “Years of my life have been consumed by that question. Even the demon Nightmare Moon spent seventeen years of her exile pondering it as I slept in my moon, and even her wisdom and cunning was not enough. No, dear Honesty, there is no other way. We cannot even offer him the body thine sister now inhabits, for we cannot bring it here if the jewel is unmarred. When your princess thought on this, all that met her was the simple fact that she had lied to one who loved her, and whom she loved, because she was afraid to let go of the comfort it brought her.” Applejack sat and pondered these words as Chance held his goddaughter close one last time, and great long sighs escaped the lips of the alicorn. Luna sat chanting over the jewel, readying it for the act to come. As the music filled the room Applejack sat near the body of her little sister, watching and listening as it fought for breath with a mechanical cadence, as it seemed to inflate and deflate. To her surprise Chance came to her and lay down beside her, a million thoughts seeming to flit through his aged mind. “You must think me a monster, for now you know the feelings that live in my heart for your sovereign, my Luna. Do you hold it against me, that I have such feelings for one I first met when she was but a few days old?” he asked. Applejack’s head swam for a minute at the thought of her apparently divine and seemingly immortal princess toddling about in diapers. “I… ah reckon it ain’t mah place tah say what ya’ll ancient folk feel,” she said. “That’s nonsense,” he said in an indignant tone. “Complete nonsense. You, Miss Applejack, are Honesty, the most recent in a long line that my magic helped the fillies whom you call your sovereigns discover, and I expect it from you.” Applejack cleared her throat, and then spoke again. “Well, sir, nothing personal… but, yessir, it’s a touch off-puttin’. Chance sighed, and then rolled onto his back. He blinked a few times and then spoke once more. “When she was a child, I loved her as a child should be loved. I rejoiced in her accomplishments, and helped her learn. That her father and mother trusted in me proved me blessed, and I blessed them in return.” He gave a great heavy sigh. “When their world fell apart,” he said in a voice that betrayed some guilt, “I and those who they trusted fought for them. We were hunted for our belief in the little fillies. To protect them and use my magic to shield them I had to leave them. My uncle, Discord, would have found me and used my power against them.” His eyes turned back to her. “When they had defeated him, and I was free to see her again, it was not my little Luna who greeted me. No, Honesty, it was the strong, beautiful, radiant mare that you call your princess. She was now a powerful, full wellspring of the deep magic of the night and the moon. She was a grown mare… and I loved her as such. I’d had a change of heart, as it were, and my loved changed to suite it. Yet, to her I was still her godfather… still her uncle.” He shrugged his shoulders. “This must seem very trite to you, but I thank you for listening. The truth of the matter is that I’m not that much older than Luna… only a few dozen centuries or so, you know, just to float that fact out over the room, as it were.” “Errr, yes,” said Applejack, her head swimming with all of the casual references to ancient pony history. The two sat there, next to the incorporeal fireplace, as he summoned some marshmallows to toast out of thin air at a chance of probability on the order of billions of trillions to one. After some silence, he spoke again. “Tell me, Miss Applejack,” he asked, "do you believe in the Well of Souls, the afterlife of the ponies?” “Yessir,” answered Applejack without hesitation, “believed in it since day one, as it were. All mah’ kin are there, swimmin’ in love itself as though it were water, waitin’ on all of us here tah come runnin’ down the beach and gather us up and fill us with peace forever. Yessir… yessir, Lord Chance, sir, I do…” He was silent for a moment. “It sounds most wonderful,” he said, glancing up to her as his head lay upon the floor and a waft of marshmallow hung from his whiskers. “That is not the fate of my kind, after death, you know.” “No sir, I-I wasn’t aware… that your kind, well… I didn’t even know that you could die, sir,” she said. “That’s why I’m surprised that you were the one we came here to… well, ummm...” “It’s not quite the same for us, you see, Miss Applejack,” he said with a laugh. “We are not truly mortal, but incarnations. Death to us is just losing the sense of self. It is becoming entirely the spirit of what we are. My aunts Hope and Peace float about the world now unseen, and my cousins and all my kind are now present in the world, but not able to take part in it.” He lifted himself and looked down at her. “That was the sin of Discord, you see,” he added. “My uncle decided to have power over this world… therefore his punishment was to be made entirely of it, to become a physical part of it, to be made stone.” Applejack smiled to him, and he back at her, both now knowing with more than small satisfaction the part the other played in their time to seal away the demon, and keep him so sealed. “I tell you this, because I want you to know that I hold you not responsible for what you must now do. I hold no ill will against you, or your kind. So, the next time something seems to go amiss for you, I can only ask that you not say ‘That’s some damn chance!’ and curse me for your misfortune…” Applejack laughed unexpectedly, and his smile grew wide. Luna’s singing stopped, and the smiles fell out of both of them. Applejack had heard of this before, but she’d never have believed that she would someday be part of it. She had read of the way that some unicorns chose to die in musty books in school when she was a foal. She had always thought of it as was some odd unicorn rite, that it was something only done by mighty lords and chivalrous knights when it seemed that all was lost. She’d never heard of it being done outside of storybooks… But, here it was. Princess Luna had her horn pressed against Applejack’s chest, the jeweled gorget standing between her hooves. “The blood must come from nearest the heart, Honesty,” Luna said for the fourth or fifth time, repeating the phrase as though she didn’t know what else to say. Applejack nodded for the millionth time. If it was for Apple Bloom… “My magic will preserve you, fear not… but the blood must come from nearest the heart…” Applejack stopped wincing. She looked down to the princess, and realized that the tormented moments were continuing because Luna was torn. The princess took two ragged breaths, and her eyes flew around the room. “Luna?” came Chance’s voice from across the way. “Luna, there’s nothing I would not give you, you know that… even my life for that of one of your little ponies.” Two more ragged, tormented breaths. “Princess? Now,” breathed Applejack. “Now.” “C’mon,” she repeated again, daring to make demands of the alicorn, “Now… now, Ma’am. C’mon now…” Luna gave a great huff of emotion. She gave a shrill cry. “Now!” brayed Applejack, “Do…” A sensation of cold wafted through the earth pony. Her eyes stared off into nothing as she felt the sensation of ice being dragged slowly across her very soul. Warmth slid from her, and she knew that it was her blood leaving her. It all would have been very majestic, even poetic… that is, if it weren’t for the screaming, flailing, crying form of the draconequus across the way. As she felt the warmth leaving her she knew that it was falling across the jewel. She could feel it splashing about her hooves, she could hear it splattering across the gorget… but there was no pain. Only the sounds of a draconequus in his death throes, the splatter of her own blood, and the pitiful sounds of Luna’s tears filled the room. Soon there was a feeling of movement within her, an alien sensation of coldness slipping from her, and suddenly she felt very light on her hooves. “Sit yourself, Applejack. Rest ye,” called Luna, literally leaping over her and making for the draconequus. Applejack’s head swam. She took a deep gulp and looked to her chest, expecting to find a horror show awaiting her eyes. There was nothing… not even the slightest of scratches. Her breast was as immaculate as ever. The strong muscles of the working pony stood out healthfully. Only a slight coldness rested there. Could she have imagined it? Applejack lifted her head, first checking on the breathing of Apple Bloom’s body, and then looking for proof that the sensation had been real. She didn’t have to look far, and she very nearly had to use her hat to catch her own sick. Her blood stood splattered over the floor. It was pooled over the jewel, splashed over the gorget, her own hooves… nearby pillars, distant pots… Applejack could only blink as dizziness floated through her, and she felt the sudden need to cuddle with the vacant body of her little sister. Her eyes fell across the jewel as she brought the cushions closer. She was not surprised that it was now black. So it was that the blood of a mere earth pony mare, filled only with the love of her sister, drowned the worldly soul of an ancient incarnation. Applejack’s eyes closed, and she fought through the dizziness to listen as Chance’s breathing became a forced wheeze, and in her mind’s eye she could see him already fading away. Luna’s hoof stood in his one paw, and his other drew across her face, taking away her tears as they fell one by one. “Moonbeam,” he said as he fought for breath, “do not cry. I am not sad, and this is not the worst way I could leave this form. You know that well enough…” “I had to help my sister kill her godmother,” she said, her voice cracking. “I held Reeka and Draggle in check as their powers mingled and all the world seemed drawn down in my sister’s light and Hydia’s darkness, as though it were the end of all things. It was outrageous fortune alone that saved us…” “Heh, my cousin?” he gasped. “Truly, Fortune was an ass…” The two made small laughter, looking to one another as once gain, these millennia later, she witnessed him fading away and leaving his incarnate form. “Luna,” he said with strained breaths, “I can not leave my worldly spirit behind in peace without repeating that which my heart truly feels. Would you grant me that?” She rested her head against his paw. “If you had allowed me to be your lover, I would have filled your life with pleasure. You would never have known loneliness or the want of touch again in your long years,” he spoke, his magic already fading and his body beginning to become thin. “If the magic of the jewel had worked and given me a body of your kind, then you could have called me husband, if that would have made you happy,” he said, as his voice grew weaker. “I would have given you all of that, and that much more. Foals of your own, filling your life with that joy.” “It is not my path,” she said, her own voice catching, “and I tell you again, godfather, that is not where your throne sits in my heart.” “I know it, my Luna, and I finally admit it to myself. It was but a dream and longing I should have kept secret, and happy alone should I have been that you had called me godfather and uncle,” he said as he tried to take a breath. It caught somewhere in his throat and he seemed unable to either to cough or exhale. His body shuddered and finally the breath fell from him in a raspy wheeze. “Goodbye, my Luna,” he fought for each breath as she pressed herself against his chest. “Know that I love you, and that I am still in the world, but only changed. I love you, my Moonbeam, and even as such you know there is nothing I would not do for you. If you ever find yourself in dire need, do not be afraid to leave your fate to chance.” Applejack’s eyes came open in time to see Luna reach her long, graceful neck up to him. As their lips touched the draconequus tried to lift his paw to her, but it would not answer, and fell back to the floor. “My little Moonbeam…” And thus ended the worldly life of Chance Last of the draconequui who were incarnate in the world Less the demon sealed in stone in ancient Canterlot far away “Applejack?” rose Luna’s voice. “Are you well, child?” Applejack didn’t know when she had fallen to sleep, but she awoke with a start. Her head immediately went to Apple Bloom’s body. It was still breathing, but the breaths were ragged and unsure. At once she began to clamber to her hooves… “It is barely past my rising, in the world,” Luna said, her voice seeming weak and withdrawn. “Fear not for the form of thine sister, for we have ample time.” The two mares sat there together, in the room, neither of them speaking for long moments. Applejack noticed that the room had grown colder. There was no faux fire in the fireplace, and the windows were darkened. In truth, she could not understand how there was even light enough to see. “Applejack? Honesty? Would…” spoke the princess. “Majesty?” answered Applejack. “Would y-you attend to us?” the princess asked, her voice breaking as she asked it. Applejack picked up the gorget, the iron taste of her own dry blood sitting in her mouth as she carried it to the princess. She began to try to lift it up to the princess, but as she caught the look in the eyes of her ancient sovereign she knew that was not what she was asking for. “Oh, c’mere now,” Applejack said, letting the much vaster pony lay her head across her shoulder. So much larger was Luna that Applejack felt imposed by her weight, and the alicorn’s face reached all the way down to Applejack’s withers. Still, she held her princess, offering what comfort she could. “I loved him, Honesty,” Luna spoke, “and already the world seems that much darker.” Applejack ran her hoof along the back of her sovereign, making small sounds of comfort. After long moments Luna’s voice rose again, and it was a song. As Applejack held her she felt the magic of the alicorn rising, and as the words escaped her lips Applejack felt as though she could see the world that the princess was lamenting… as though the words written on the brass that she’d touched suddenly had meaning. “Will you not sing with us?” asked the princess without raising her head. “Well, ummm, forgive me, princess, but I ain’t familiar with the words,” Applejack replied. “Of course,” sighed Luna, “forgive me. The song is much older than thine ears, and my sister usually matches my harmony. Can… pray, do you feel the melody in it?” “Yes,” answered Applejack, “I think I kin’ put my hoof on it pretty square.” As the princess began to sing again Applejack did her best to hum the melody that she had heard. So it was that “The Galarnad” was sung for the first time with the distinctive accent of the earth ponies keeping its cadence. There were booming sounds in the distance. With that they gathered up the little form of Apple Bloom’s body, and departed the house. As they did it reduced to deep magic, taking that much more out of the world, and as they slid away the secrets of old Equestria became that much more distant.